Police: Las Cruces woman swung her daughter, broke child's skull

LAS CRUCES >> A Las Cruces woman accused of swinging her 6-month-old daughter into a wall, fracturing the baby's skull, has been arrested.

Leslee Ann Soliz, 24, of the 9800 block of Shining Star Court, has been charged with child abuse, a third-degree felony, according to a Las Cruces Police Department news release.

Soliz, who was arrested Wednesday, remains in custody at the Doña Ana County Detention Center on a $50,000 secured bond, jail records showed Thursday. She doesn't have a criminal record, according to a search of the New Mexico courts website.

Her baby girl is still being treated at University Medical Center in El Paso, the LCPD news release states.

Last week, after the baby's second visit to MountainView Regional Medical Center in two days, Soliz told an LCPD detective that she could not console the crying child and, in a fit of frustration, swung the baby around and hit the right side of her head against a wall, according to a criminal complaint filed in Magistrate Court.

Initially, the complaint states, Soliz told the detective she hit the baby's head with a bottle. Then she tried to imply that her boyfriend or his father may have had some role in injuring the baby, according to the complaint.

Police believe the incident happened May 2, or sometime before then. Soliz took her infant daughter to the hospital that afternoon.

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A nurse told police that Soliz and a grandmother admitted the baby May 2 because she awoke from a nap with bruises on her head after taking new medications, according to the complaint.

That nurse also told police, the complaint states, that the baby was awake and oriented when she came in, and vital signs were normal. An imaging scan revealed only a small wound to the child's skull, but the nurse told police that an attending physician said the baby had had an allergic reaction to one of the medications.

The nurse noted she had never seen or heard of a medication causing such bruising.

The next day, when the baby came back to MountainView, the nurse told police the baby "appeared to be distressed when she touched the forehead," according to the complaint.

The baby had come to MountainView the second time by ambulance. First responders had been told the child had a respiratory issue, the complaint states, but their assessment showed a different type of distress.

Eventually, the baby was taken to University Medical Center in El Paso, where another imaging technique revealed a fracture to her skull's right side.

Until last year when it closed, the Child Crisis Center of Southern New Mexico provided respite childcare for overwhelmed or otherwise stressed parents. Officials cited high costs and low enrollment at the center when it temporarily shut down in January 2013. It closed permanently last April.

At the time advocates said there was still a need for such care.

While they may not provide identical services, officials said Thursday there are providers who can help parents and families in crisis.

Alfonso Velarde, director of the Child Crisis Center of El Paso, said his organization provides emergency shelter for families in southern Doña Ana County. While it's rare that Las Cruces families use the services, Velarde said there's nothing to prevent them.

"We don't stop our services at the border, whether it's the New Mexico border or the Mexican border," Velarde said.

Henry Varela, spokesman for the state's Children, Youth and Families Department, said there are Las Cruces-area providers to help parents and children.

"The challenge is always that these services are voluntary," he said.

LCPD spokesman Dan Trujillo said people in a childcare crisis can always call the police department's victim services unit, 575-528-4111, if they need immediate guidance.